The Collective
by Bullet2tm
Summary: AU. Ichigo is the CEO of a company named Sousuke Industries. He acts as a callous, heartless employer however all of this changes once he learns of Aizen Sousuke's true intentions and the company is simply a cover up for an evil strategy. OriXIch


**A/N: **_Sorry, being evil and uploading a new story. I already have one sort of like this but for a different category, but, will be very different. Will hopefully make this shorter, but no promises. Please read, review and enjoy!_

**The Collective**

**Chapter 1: Moving on Up**

_

* * *

_

A body was found outside the Aizen Nightclub in Sereitei at 4am yesterday morning. The victim was female, 16 and has been allegedly going to the club for some time underage. Aizen Sousuke, the owner of the Club has fired several barmaids and barmen due to his staff allowing for underage children to enter the club without identification being shown.

_Aizen was seen in America and is said to be staying there for some months, leaving the Karakura district to his young, yet, rich assistant, Kurosaki Ichigo. The orange haired batchelor had nothing to offer the press in terms of details of his new appointment, remaining as cold and dettached as ever. More details will be posted soon._

_- Sereitai Herald Online 24 March 2010_

"This is ridiculous!" yelled Rukia, narrowing her eyes at her dumb boss.

"Excuse me? If you don't recall, I'm the fucking boss!" exclaimed the hot headed Master. "And I'm saying I'm not cleaning my own room, got it? So you can do it for all I care, or it can stay dirty."

Rukia fumed at the idiotic male in front of her and took a large sigh, trying to calm herself down before she pulverised the newest CEO of Sereitei Sousuke Industries.

_Just who does he think he is? I'm an assistant, not a maid! That's what the girls downstairs are for...that's it! Yes!_ she thought, grinning with glee at her idea.

"Fine, Ichigo," said Rukia, calmly, with her arms crossed over her chest.

The orange haired CEO narrowed his eyes and stared at his assistant from across the room. "It is? You're not going to hit me?"

"No. But, you will interview some of the maid's and the lucky one will clean all this area, day by day. _I_ am not a maid. I have a College degree for a reason," said Rukia, her violet orbs burning holes in his chocolate ones.

Ichigo sighed. "Fine. Explain to them today, and you can interview this afternoon," explained Ichigo, looking back to his desk top computer.

"Excuse me? Well, you can at least sit and observe them," said Rukia, with a challenging aura.

"Tch. Fine, you drive a hard bargain," smirked Ichigo, leaning back in his leather high back office chair with his folded arms over his chest.

He placed his feet up on his desk and eye'd her carefully from where she stood at the door way with a clip board in her hand.

"No I don't. This is your mansion remember? You have to take responsibility for your staff. I am merely your assistant, you jerk. And don't forget your paper work because Ishida-san will be the one giving you a lecture on how dumb you are, not me," said Rukia, before walking out of the office with a smile.

She did love to torment him sometimes.

Ichigo began to scowl. _I'm the boss for gods sake...and she speaks to me like that?_ he thought to himself. _Well, I might just look at the maid's files while I'm here, then I can shove it in Rukia's face for being organised!_

He walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled out their files and walked back to his desk where he began to go through each one individually, looking at their faces from photo's that were attached to each file.

As time went by, only two names stuck out to him to have the best records.

"Arasawa Tatsuki and Orihime Inoue," said Ichigo to himself with a frown.

He pulled the two files together and sat them side by side, looking at their photo's; trying to see if he could judge their character by looking at their faces.

He looked to Arasawa, she looked to be trust worthy then he looked at Orihime's photo and he frowned. She was very beautiful and her smile was one he couldn't forget.

_Oh well, I can narrow it down now, we only need to have two interviews,_ thought Ichigo.

* * *

Orihime Inoue smiled at Tatsuki and waved enthusiastically. "Tatsuki-chan!" she exclaimed from her seat, waving like a mad man.

"Hey, Orihime. You got the memo too?" asked Tatsuki.

"Yeah. I hope you get the job, Tatsuki-chan," said Orihime with a smile.

If it were anyone else, Tatsuki Arasawa would know it was a fake encouragement. However, it was Orihime, and nothing about her was fake or mean. She truly was a kind human being with her heart being even bigger than her abnormally large breasts.

Tatsuki noticed Orihime had put on her suit skirt, skin coloured stockings and a single white button up blouse. Professional, yes, that's what she looked like. Tatsuki didn't even think to get dressed up.

"Do you want the job Orihime?" asked Tatsuki, curiously.

Orihime frowned. Yes, she did, but if she said yes then Tatsuki would probably try not to do good in the interview so she would get it.

"Um...I wouldn't mind, but-"

"Tell me the truth, Hime," said Tatsuki.

"Yes. But I wouldn't care whether I got it or not because you're worth more than a simple job, Tatsuki-chan," smiled Orihime, placing a kind hand on her shoulder.

The black haired woman shook her head. "Hime, you deserve the job, but how about we say that we just both do our best," said Tatsuki, raising her eyebrow in anticipation of her best friend's answer.

Orihime nodded. "Yes, let's do that."

Suddenly someone cleared their throat.

"May I interrupt?" asked a female voice.

Orihime gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry Kuchiki-san-" began the orange haired woman.

The short black haired woman laughed. "It's fine, Inoue. Why don't you come in first?"

Orihime nodded and got up, following Rukia into Ichigo Kurosaki's office, which seemed to be very dimly lit with a fire going to the side of the room.

"Have a seat Inoue," smiled Rukia, gesturing with her hand to take a seat.

The orange haired woman played with the ends of her hair nervously and sat down as requested. She couldn't see Ichigo which made her more relieved, so she relaxed a bit. Rukia had always been nice to her, despite her clumsiness.

"So, we'll start with a series of questions," began Rukia.

Chocolate brown orbs focused on the orange haired woman intently from in a dark corner of the room, hoping she didn't spot him. He observed her mannerisms and noticed that she was so much more beautiful than her picture gave her credit for, she had a great smile that reached her eyes and kind gestures. Just what was this woman doing working as a maid?

He had a foreboding feeling that if he hired her to work in his private floor that something would go wrong, not to mention her 'reputation' for clumsiness. Last year she had knocked over a $1000 vase after tripping over, or so he was told. Not that he cared because he hated that old thing, and the money didn't matter because he had plenty of it. It was the principal of the incident, not to mention he had heard about her reputation of being an 'air-head'.

He continued to observe the girl; she had two hair pins either side of her hair, holding it into place and the way she was dressed was perfectly...his eyes suddenly spotted her blouse and all thoughts went into the gutter suddenly. Her breasts were huge! And the rest of her body, he would surmise, to be a size 8.

_Definitely not...I don't like her_, thought Ichigo.

"Are you serious? Please don't say you have red bean paste in everything!" exclaimed Rukia, with a horrid image.

Orihime chuckled. "Yes. Please don't tell Kurosaki-sama, I heard he likes all boring food," said Orihime with a scrunch of her nose.

Rukia laughed and laughed and as tears came to her eyes she had to stop herself. "Is that right?" asked a deep, cold voice from the corner of the room.

The room was quite large, so she couldn't have noticed his presence from the beginning. Orihime stopped smiling straight away to see a figure standing up and taking a few steps into the centre of the office. Her eyes became wide as saucers after she realised her mistake.

"Kurosaki-sama! I'm so very sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude," exclaimed Orihime, bowing her head in shame.

_What was I thinking?_ thought Orihime as her heart began to beat faster and faster with every second that went by.

His eyes were upon her like she was less than human, like she was rubbish. He scowled but as she had bowed her head, his face neutralised and he felt something he'd never felt before.

"My tastes may be plain, Inoue. But so are you," he said coldly, his face neutral. "Send in Arasawa."

Orihime looked up and saw Ichigo's chocolate stoic orbs burn into hers and her eyes began to water instantly. She nodded profusely, apologised again and ran out of the office, however, not before almost banging her head against the door clumsily.

Rukia narrowed her eyes at Ichigo. "What the hell was that?" exclaimed Rukia, after it was just the two of them in the room.

Ichigo looked away and sat at his desk.

_I don't know,_ he thought to himself, and that feeling had come again! Twice in the short time he had met that woman. What was it? Guilt? And guilt was something that he had shed long ago when he had become Aizen's assistant, and then finally a partner in Sousuke Industries and now he was the CEO of the Sereitei area.

He shook his head and focused on Rukia for a moment.

"What? I dislike her, so what? You don't like Renji, but I don't get up your ass for saying stupid things to him, do I?" exclaimed Ichigo.

Rukia shook her head. _That poor girl,_ she thought. _And she is _anything _but plain._

The black haired assistant opened the door and walked out into the hallway. "Arisawa, Tatsuki?" asked Rukia.

The said woman was looking at her friend on on the opposite side of the hall with a frown. "Just what happened in there?" exclaimed the woman at Rukia, rudely narrowing her eyes.

Rukia was taken aback by Tatsuki's tone; a tone she wasn't used to hearing from a maid.

"I-nothing," stuttered the short woman. Any other time she would have reprimanded a maid for speaking to her like that, but, she couldn't bear to after the way Ichigo had spoken to the poor girl. "Please come in, Tatsuki."

Tatsuki frowned and took another look at Orihime, whom was nodding at her with a smile through her tears. The short haired woman sighed and got up; going through the open door.

Rukia didn't go in straight away. She wanted to say 'he's not normally like that' or 'he's a dick head' or even 'I'll make sure he pays for what he said to you' but she could never undermine Ichigo's authority, after all, he was the boss.

However, another idea sprung into her head suddenly to make Ichigo pay for his words and cold actions, making her decide to simply go on with the second interview with a knowing smile.

* * *

"What have I got today, Rukia?" asked Ichigo with a large sigh, placing his folded legs upon his large oak desk and his hands behind his head for support.

"You have a meeting with Mr Ukitake today," said Rukia, looking to a clipboard in her hand with a pen in the other. "Oh, and the maid from downstairs will be starting as of now."

Ichigo nodded. "Good."

"Oh and Renji wants to see you..."

"Why? I have nothing to say to that bastard unless I'm going out and I need a security detail," exclaimed Ichigo angrily.

"Before you get your knickers in a knot Ichigo, its about the meeting. I'm sure its just about who's on shift to guard the door, that's all," explained Rukia calmly, however, her violet orbs peirced the side of his head as he seemed to be looking away.

The orange haired businessman snapped his head toward her with a scowl and persed his lips. "Fine. I'm getting a drink first though."

He got up from his position and stormed out of his office, slamming the door open and closed.

Rukia shook her head with a sigh and then remembered who was working on his floor now and smiled.

Ichigo made his way to his floor and saw that the floorboards were shiny clean and the hallway smelled amazing. He was curious to see the other rooms so he poked his head in each, finding that everything had been dusted, polished and the floors were clean. Everything was arranged neatly and again, there was that lovely jasmine smell around the place, it made him smile slightly.

_Well, at least something right is going on around here,_ he thought.

He made his way to his bedroom and heard movement. He frowned and realised the maid had now reached his bedroom; the last room on the floor.

"Thanks for..." he began as he entered the room, but when he saw long orange hair, that jasmine scent again and the small figure making his bed, his words turned to anger.

Before he had found the scent soothing and relaxing, but now he realised the origin of the scent, and it made him feel the opposite. He _hated_ it now.

"...just what do you think you're doing?" exclaimed Ichigo, his eyes narrowed with anger.

This caused Orihime to turn suddenly and the colour began to drain out of her face instantly; her grey orbs widened in fear.

"Um-I, Kurosaki-sama...Rukia-san told me I got the job to clean up here," stuttered Orihime, after a moment of confusion. "I'm sorry if this offends-"

"Damn right it does. I chose Tatsuki Arisawa," exclaimed Ichigo, ignoring the fact that Orihime was good at her job and had done everything perfectly and quickly at the same time.

Orihime frowned and her mouth formed into an 'o' in realisation.

"Then why would Rukia-san say that I got the job?" she asked, but it was more to herself.

She placed an index finger to her lips in deep thought and Ichigo raised one of his eye brows, wondering what the hell his maid was doing. "What are you doing?"

"I'm thinking," said Orihime, going back to looking at the ground whilst humming a tune.

The orange haired CEO took in what the woman said and despite his anger at his maid but now more at his assistant, he couldn't help but laugh out aloud at her weird way of 'thinking'.

The orange haired woman sighed after not being able to come up with any ideas about why Rukia would say that she could have the job, when Ichigo had said that Tatsuki had gotten the job, and looked up at her employer.

"I can't think of anything," she shrugged with a smile. "Kurosaki-sama-"

"I can, its my bitch of an assistant, that's what," said Ichigo, after getting over his amusement. "Anyway..." He looked around his room to find that everything except the bed seemed to be clean and in order. "...I guess you can stay. But if you piss me off, you're out of here, got it?"

Orihime nodded profusely and glowed with happiness, bowing her head in thanks. "Thank you, Kurosaki-sama."

She then went back to making his king size bed promptly.

Ichigo then went to his walk in robe to pick out something suitable to wear for the meeting. A few minutes later he came out with a few ties and placed them on the newly made bed after he pulled on his light beige dress shirt and began to button it up. He looked over to the other side of the room and could see that Orihime was going about her chores and had began dusting a window sill, humming away merrily.

"Seriously? Do you have to hum?" asked Ichigo in annoyance, his chocolate orbs narrowed at his maid as he stopped doing up his buttons.

Orihime turned her head, her mouth slightly agape.

"Oh, you don't hum sometimes?" she asked, continuing her work.

"No! Does it look like I do?" asked Ichigo whom couldn't believe this girl would think that he would, did he look gay or something? No! Therefore, he doesn't just _hum _while working!

"Well, you can't judge someone by looking at them Kurosaki-sama, you have to get to know them to work out their character," said Orihime with a smile.

Ichigo couldn't believe this girl, was she stupid? How dare she speak to him like that? Although, she was absolutely right. In fact, he wished people would treat him like that. He was always treated with utmost respect, but never would anyone converse with him in a social manner, thinking him to be cold and callous. People thought that he didn't care about people, that he was inhumane by buying off businesses and selling them in pieces. The last part was true, but he did it for the company. For _Aizen_.

The press would never print nice things about him; only about how badly he treated women, or that all he cared about was money or about him writing off a brand new car. Everything they spoke about on Television or in the papers were over exaggerated and it pissed him off.

"A-are you okay, Kurosaki-sama?" asked the maid as her concerned grey orbs looked upon him, with the feather duster held just above her chest.

She was closer now, Ichigo realised.

"What? What did you say?" asked the orange haired man, with a scowl.

Orihime faltered for a moment, trying to think of every possible answer so as not to get fired.

"I-are you okay, Kurosaki-sama?" stuttered Orihime in a questionable tone.

The orange haired CEO sighed. "No one has asked me that in years...Inoue is it?"

The girl nodded with a kind smile, and as she turned around quickly she banged her elbow against the chest of tall drawers against the wall and as she leaned back from it; hit her head against the window sill.

The windows were quite tall, being a large old mansion that Ichigo resided in.

"Owie," cried Orihime in pain, changing from rubbing her head, to rubbing her elbow intermittently.

Ichigo finished buttoning up his shirt and shook his head. Just where did this maid come from? She's clumsy and kind, yet thorough and naive.

"Now I know why I had to pay for a vase that _magically_ fell over after you supposedly dusted it," he said with raised eye brows.

Orihime began to blush at remembering that day, she had been so scared, she had to have the day off! But Rukia, Ichigo's assistant came to investigate and instead of firing her, laughed at the predicament she was in and nothing came of it.

"But now that you're here, can you help me decide which tie to wear?" asked Ichigo, looking down at his selection on the bed as he scratched his head with indecision.

The orange haired maid nodded, running over to him. As she came to a stop, she tripped on the floor mat in front of Ichigo's king four poster. Luckily Ichigo had been on the ball and grabbed her wrist before _anything serious_ could happen, his chocolate orbs narrowed.

"Will you watch it? Jeez, do you have no co-ordination?" exclaimed Ichigo, letting go of her slender wrist slowly. As he pulled back, he caught a whiff of her scent. What was it that she did to make herself smell like that?

Suddenly he looked down at the girl whom was pointing to a tie.

"That one!" she exclaimed.

Ichigo raised his eye brow and stared at her blankly. "Why?"

"Because its you, that's why," said Orihime nodded with her arms folded over her chest.

"How?"

"Its a bright orange colour, bringing people's attention to your hair and then they will look at your eyes next," said Orihime, explaining herself well.

"So what if my hair is orange...so is yours!" exclaimed Ichigo.

The one thing he hated about himself, _she_ of all people would bring up this sore point for him. Why was he taking this shit? She was a mere maid and he was...well, important!

"I know. But I tie up my hair now. I used to get picked on a lot for the colour of it and how long it is, but I realised that it was my most positive feature," smiled Orihime. "Anyway, it was nice talking to you Kurosaki-sama. I must get to my duties downstairs."

Orihime bowed slightly and walked out of the room, causing a trail of her scent to follow her. Ichigo looked at the tie that the maid had picked out and put it on quickly, before grabbing a drink from his fridge in his room and leaving promptly.

_I'm already late, damn that stupid maid,_ he thought.

* * *

"I assure you, Ukitaki, he will be here any moment," said Rukia with a smile.

A man with long silver hair, whom wore a light grey pin strip suit and a black tie nodded with a kind smile. "It's fine Rukia, I'm sure its important," he said, without a care in the world.

He was the more friendlier business associates Ichigo had meetings with.

"Well, it would be _nice_ if he could grace us with his presence, he's not the only CEO around here you know!" exclaimed a young boy with spikey silver hair.

Rukia's eyes widened and she began to blush with anxiety. _Just where are you Ichigo? And when you do decide to show, you will wish you hadn't!_ thought Rukia to herself, whilst smiling at the young prodigy, sitting at the head of the large oak conference table.

"Mr Toushiro-sama, I'm sure he will be here any moment," assured Rukia, starting to get over making excuses for Ichigo.

And as she sat in her own comfy leather chair just right of the head of the table, opposite the young boy, she could feel the colour drain out of her face as all eyes were on her for answers as to where Ichigo was.

"And why don't you know? You're his assistant, aren't you?" piped up another CEO, a woman in fact. Her name was Soifon, and the most rude out of them all. She was known for her business tactics, being the kind of employer that imbued the principal that everyone was expendable and that is how her business was so successful.

Rukia didn't have words for this woman, feeling more awkward by the second.

"There is no need for that Soifon," said Ukitaki, narrowing his eyes at the woman. "This is not Rukia's fault, she is merely his assistant, and a good one at that. I still don't understand her defecting to Ichigo's side, but non the less, she is the best assistant I will ever have."

Soifon remained silent, however her peircing eyes stabbed holes into Ukitaki's menacingly.

Rukia sighed in relief as she saw Ichigo walk in the conference door, fixing his...orange tie? _Why did he choose that colour?_ were her first thoughts, and then her thoughts turned more violent.

"Ichigo, you're late," exclaimed Rukia, shaking her head in disappointment.

The orange haired CEO placed his hand behind his head sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that."

As he looked down the table, he could see the disappointed, aggravated and annoyed looks at his tardiness and shrugged his shoulders.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" asked Ichigo, his rather good mood turning grey in seconds, remembering what the meeting was about.

"For one, you were late, and secondly...you act as if we are inconveniences to you?" exclaimed Soifon, her cheeks red with anger.

Ichigo laughed and sat down in his chair at the head of the table and as he glanced at his assistant; stopped laughing straight away, clearing his throat professionally.

"Well, you are. I didn't call this meeting..." began Ichigo with a scowl at Soifon.

"No, it is a meeting we have regularly, and you know that Kurosaki!" exclaimed Mr Toshiro.

Ichigo loosened his tie a little and rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, I only speak to adults," smirked Ichigo.

The silver haired prodigy's brow began to twitch. "That's it, I'm going to kick your ass Kurosaki!" yelled the boy, however, Ukitaki Jushiro quickly held his arm over the boy's chest, stopping him from leaving his chair.

"That's enough," spoke a cold voice from the left handside. "Can we start the meeting now? Every time you two have this banter, and every time we leave this place an hour later than we should."

"Thank you Mayuri," said Ukitaki with a sigh of relief, as he laid back in his chair.

"Fine. But before we start, how about a drink?" asked Ichigo.

A few nods and sighs gave him the answer he needed. He had his own drink but he couldn't be rude. He looked to Rukia whom got up with a nod and left without a word.

_I'm really going to kick your ass, Ichigo,_ she thought to herself as her fists clenched in anger.

* * *

"Dum da dum!" exclaimed the cheerful woman as she mopped the polished floor boards with a skip in her step.

She ran from one side of the hall to the other with the mop in her hands, then went from the side she was on to the other, singing softly to a song that was stuck in her head.

"Inoue?" asked a womanly voice from behind her.

Orihime froze and turned slowly; gasping in surprise as she let go of the mop in her hand. It fell to the ground with a clatter, which echoed throughout quiet hall.

It was such a large area that she had to cover...she wondered to herself why someone would make a hall so big, it was ridiculous. What was the use of an open hall way? There was only one occupant up on this level, and that was Ichigo Kurosaki, the CEO.

"Inoue," said the voice again, which pierced through Orihime's thoughts.

Grey orbs met violet orbs and she bowed her head slighly.

"Rukia-san, I apologise...I-I thought I was alone, I find it easier to mop this hall-" began Orihime, babbling on like no tomorrow.

"Its fine Inoue. Could you get some drinks for me?" asked Rukia with a smile. "Here is a list of what all the CEO's want."

The black haired assistant opened her clip board and ripped out a piece of paper, handing it to the orange haired maid. "Please make haste too, they're getting grumpy in there."

Orihime laughed, but when Rukia didn't laugh back she stopped suddenly.

"What is so funny?" asked Rukia.

"Oh, its nothing Rukia-san. Its just...I can't imagine it! I'll get those drinks for you right away," smiled Orihime, grabbing the fallen mop and placing it back in its bucket.

She raced off quickly, leaving Rukia with an odd expression of confusion. Suddenly she heard a thud and walked a few metres forward to see Orihime holding her stomach in pain.

"Are you okay Orihime?" asked Rukia with a frown.

The girl nodded. "Yeah...I just didn't realise the carpet moved," said Orihime with a pout upon her lips.

Rukia couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, causing Orihime to smile and wonder what Rukia was laughing at. After Rukia's laughter died down, she held onto Orihime's shoulder for support as she began to get a stomach cramp from laughing too hard.

"Inoue, its a rug. Of course it may move, clumsy!" exclaimed Rukia, shaking her head and began to walk back to the meeting room.

She looked back at the naive girl and pointed toward an oak door. "There is the room you need to take the drinks to."

Orihime nodded and proceeded to the kitchen downstairs. _How could you do that to me, little blue men? I thought we had an agreement that you would only do stuff like that when I was _off duty_, not in front of my supervisor!_ she thought to herself.

She raced to the kitchen and opened a door with a round window at the top. She searched the area and saw someone she recognised working in the corner, cutting up some meat.

"Hello Hanataro," exclaimed Orihime.

"Inoue-san! I haven't seen you in a while, did you miss my bean paste coated donuts did you?" asked the small boy.

The orange haired girls eyes lit up and she nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, yes! I have Hanataro, however, I'm here for a different request. Could you please make all these?" asked Orihime, handing the boy a list of drinks.

"Ah! You're moving up in the world are you Inoue-san?" exclaimed Hanataro, however, his eyes were saddened by this. "You're sick of us poor peasants down below?"

Although Hanataro was talking and looking at Orihime, he seemed to be able to make the drinks as he spoke, it was amazing.

"No Hanataro-kun, of course not! Its not like I won't be around, of course I'll come to see everyone every day, my room is still downstairs after all," explained Orihime with a reassuring smile. "Besides, the little blue men would be angry if I didn't."

She looked around to make sure they weren't watching.

The boy shook his head. "I worry about you, Inoue-san. Anyway, Tatsuki came around and said that who ever got the job must stay upstairs."

Orihime frowned and shook her head. "Well it hasn't been mentioned to me, so I will assume my room is still downstairs," said Orihime with a nod.

Hanataro shrugged. "Your drinks are ready! Also, I think Mizuiro is looking for you, and the lesbian."

"Thank you Hanataro, you're still my favourite cook! I'll catch up with them later, at the moment I have a job I must get on with," exclaimed Orihime, walking out the door as briskly as possible, with the many drinks sitting on a large round carry plate.

As she walked up the stairs, she prayed that the little blue men did not try and trip her.

* * *

"As I was saying, before I was _rudely _interrupted," said the boy, whom narrowed his eyes fiercely at Soifon.

"Excuse _me_ Toushiro, but I don't listen to _little boys_ whom have no understanding of what they are saying!" exclaimed Soifon, slamming her hands upon the table, like a little girl whose doll had been taken away.

The silver haired boy's eyebrows began to twitch with anger. "Watch your tongue, Soifon. You may find it cut off, when you're not looking."

"Whoa!" exclaimed the head of the table.

All eyes turned to the orange haired CEO; some were thankful and others were angered by his interruption.

"Look, we're not getting anywhere by-" began Ichigo, but stopped when he noticed someone had entered the room.

All eyes followed Ichigo's direction of sight and noticed the beautiful maid of his, carrying his colleagues drinks. Their eyes followed her movements as she placed a tray next to where Ichigo was sitting and she smiled.

"I have the drinks you ordered, Kurosaki-sama," she said with a soft voice.

"You have a new maid Ichigo?" asked a gruff voice, for the first time since the meeting had begun.

"Yes, Kenpachi," replied Ichigo a little more uptight now that the maid had arrived. He snapped his head to the maid and narrowed his eyes. "Give out the drinks as I ordered."

Orihime nodded silently, wondering if she had done something wrong since his tone seemed to be clipped and cold. She did as he asked, getting a thank you here and there from a most of the men.

Soifon, however, didn't even look at her, disgusted with her presence.

"I didn't know you hired from the local brothel, Kurosaki," scoffed Soifon, taking a sip from her glass.

Ichigo's hand's clenched into fists at his sides as his temper began to flare and Rukia's eyes widened in disgust at Soifon's comment. If only she could beat up the woman across from her; she sure felt like doing so every time they had these meetings. Many of the men in the room shook their heads in disappointment and their eyes bore holes into the woman in question.

Orihime at the time had just got back to the head of the table where Ichigo was sitting; the tray in her hand. And as the comment from the woman at the table had resonated around the room, she couldn't help but feel saddened by her words, in fact, it down right hurt her feelings.

"M-may I be excused, Kurosaki-sama?" she trembled, bowing her head, so as not to look into his eyes at the embarrassment and shame of the comment directed at her.

"You may," said Ichigo, a little less harsh than before.

He turned his head, watching as she left. He noticed her eyes were withdrawn and that she was trying to avoid his gaze, and this made him angry. He didn't understand why he was angry, but, his temper was getting out of control. Was it because Orihime seemed to be a kind person, undeserving of Soifon's jealous comments? He didn't know why his new maid intrigued him so to the point where he felt he had to defend her because she could not. There was definitely something about that girl that peaked his interest.

Ichigo looked away from the now closed door that Orihime had walked through and snapped his head toward Soifon with a scowl upon his face. His eyes were upon her and she knew it.

"What is your problem Soifon? We are meant to be here to talk about stuff and yet, all you do is oppose everyone's ideas for peace," exclaimed Ichigo, his temper flaring again. "And how dare you speak about my maid like that, no less, in front of all these people. If you do it again, I will make sure you'll regret it."

Soifon remained silent, looking down at the peice of paper in front of her.

The meeting continued as normal.

* * *

Orihime awoke with a start. She sat up with a small yawn and forgot that she was in different quarters now, upstairs, as Rukia had requested. She pulled the covers off of her legs and took in just how spectacular her room was; she was a lucky maid. It had been a few days now and she was surprised that she had lasted this long in her new job.

However, she couldn't understand why someone so rich like Ichigo would spend their money on something so extravagant, she didn't understand the point. If it were her, she would be content with something more simple with less rooms and more warm filled ornaments.

She looked up at the wall next to her bed and saw a picture of a man standing over many bleeding bodies. She noticed that the bodies seemed to be strong looking and yet the man standing over them was small and scrawny looking.

"What a confusing picture!" she exclaimed to herself, shaking her head in confusion.

Throughout her time at Kurosaki Manor she had noticed a lot of these pictures among the halls and various rooms in the mansion. It was full of death and people with abnormal abilities to defeat their enemies. She realised that the reason for such death depicted in these pictures told stories about her employer; on the outside he was a dark, cold person.

Not that it mattered what she thought, all she knew was that he seemed to dislike her, however, he still kept her working as his maid. She had heard stories from previous employees at the mansion that if he disliked someone, he usually got rid of them if they got in his way.

Orihime shrugged her shoulders at this thought and got up.

Twenty minutes later, she was ready to get to work after a trip to the staff bathroom and a few conversations with her friends, including Tatsuki-chan.

She was ready, and as she took one last look at herself in the mirror, she realised her blouse collar was tucked in. She pulled it up from her cardigan. Orihime wore simple clothes due to the fact there wasn't a staff uniform, so she had to make do with what she could afford. Today she wore a black skirt that came up about half way between her knees and upper thigh, a white blouse and a black cardigan over the top. She tied her hair into a loose pony tail and took another look at herself.

A deep sigh slipped out of her mouth, she looked down with anxiety, remembering the events at her employer's meeting yesterday. Orihime walked out the door, trying not to think about how embarrassed and humiliated she felt.

The orange haired beauty opened a closet about half way down the hall, looking around to make sure Ichigo wasn't in his room, and then pulled out a vacuum cleaner, a trolley with several cleaning products and a dirty washing bin.

She was early today, but she wanted to get her work done early so she wouldn't have to face her 'master' today.

She started with the middle room this time, grabbing her duster and walking into the large entertainment area. Her face brightened and her eyes widened at the spectacular room, full of books and excercise equipment.

A thought popped into her mind, one that she could get into _big _trouble with. She looked around and saw no one, her grey orbs smiling almost cheekily.

"Just this one time. And don't you little blue men make any noise!" she exclaimed, seemingly to some invisible creatures.

She walked across the room, avoiding the tread mill and excersise bike along the way, and reached the vast array of books. There was one book that had intrigued her.

"Romeo and Juliet, what an odd book for a man to have," said Orihime as she pulled it out, observing the cover at first.

It seemed old and worn as if it was an original first edition, which seemed odd to her. She looked around the room again to find a couch for her to have a quick read of her favourite book.

As she sat herself down, she let out a joyful sigh. "How comfortable!" she exclaimed to herself.

* * *

"The meeting minutes are in your office, if you need to refer to them Ichigo," explained Rukia as she opened his bedroom door.

"Hn. What ever," said the orange haired CEO, fixing his tie.

_Again, with the orange tie,_ she thought with a frown, her violet orbs observing the choice of clothing.

"Ichigo, I've never seen you wear that before," she said, hugging her clip board closely.

Ichigo stopped his movement and looked at his assistant and friend, and after a short pause, decided to answer. "Yeah...and?"

"And, are you going to apologise to that poor girl today?" asked Rukia sternly. "You've been avoiding her for three days."

Suddenly his thoughts went to that strange girl who had picked out the tie he was wearing today and again he remembered the sadness depicted on her face as she left the conference room the other day. It kept playing in his mind over and over when he had a spare thought. He didn't understand what was wrong with himself.

"Ichigo?"

"Fine. But if she pisses me off, I'll just fire her," said Ichigo with a scowl as he went to his walk in wardrobe to find shoes.

Rukia smiled as if she had won something and walked out of the room.

Ichigo watched his assistant leave and his scowl disappeared. Could he really apologise? And to a maid no less? It was madness, he was the CEO and he didn't have to apologise to anyone! Besides, he didn't even do anything wrong.

No, he wasn't going to apologise.

Ten minutes later, he was ready to go to his office. On his way out of his room and as he walked down the hall, he noticed his excercise room door was adjar and his maid's cleaning things were next to the door.

He took a peek in the door and a frown enveloped on his face. He opened the door and stood there watching the girl for a few moments.

"Oh, this is my favourite part!" exclaimed the girl, who stood up and began to dance around the room, her long orange hair flowing behind her with every leap and every step.

As she made a twirl and revealed her face to him, she stopped dead still, her eyes wide with fear. It made Ichigo's blood freeze at her expression.

"Hi," he said as he narrowed his eyes and proceeded further into the room, taking one step at a time.

"H-hi, Kurosaki-sama," her head bowed respectfully. "Y-you're up...early."

"Yeah. What are you doing?" he asked curiously, looking at the book she was holding in her hands.

Orihime finally had the courage to look up into his chocolate orbs and made a small smile. "I wanted to read one of your books. Its Romeo and Juliet, which is a very sad tale about two different people who fall in love and try to elope away from their discrimitive families."

To be honest, Ichigo should have been mad right now. He should have fired her right there and then but he just couldn't. Why did he hesitate? Maybe it didn't bother him because he had never read any of the books except for one and it was probably a good thing that _someone_ had found a use for them.

"Really. Why would you read something stupid like that?" he asked harshly, however, he didn't mean for his words to come out like that.

Orihime's hopeful expression faded, along with her smile. "Because its romantic, Kurosaki-kun."

She turned and sat back down on the couch and began to read her favourite part. It made her smile and feel giddy as her eyes followed each word; each line systematically.

Ichigo sighed and walked over to the couch, he sat down on the other side of the couch and just watched for a moment. His scowl seemed to fade and he couldn't help but feel the same feeling he had the other day. However, he had something he had to do; had to say.

"Inoue," said the orange haired CEO, causing the girl next to him to look up from the book.

"Yes, Kurosaki-kun?" she asked with confusion etched across her features.

"About the other day..." he began, but stopped when he noticed her becoming uncomfortable.

Orihime put the book to the side, placing it face down to save her page on a side table next to the couch.

"It's okay Kurosaki-kun, you don't have to apologise. I will go shopping on the weekend and find something more suitable to wear," explained the girl with a smile.

Ichigo didn't have words. _Did she just interrupt me? _he thought to himself. The change of suffix when she spoke his name also bothered him.

"I wasn't apologising!" exclaimed Ichigo in annoyance, however, he knew this was untrue. He just couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Oh, you weren't?" she asked with an index finger to her cheek, a pout on her lips and more confusion.

"Um, well, maybe," he said with a sigh.

Ichigo wanted to lie to this woman, after all, she was merely his maid but there was just something about her that made him feel guilty every time he wanted to be a callous boss as he tried to make everyone believe.

Orihime smiled. "Well there is no need," said Orihime, dipping her head slightly in reverence. "May I finish reading this part?"

The orange haired CEO frowned, wondering what in the hell she was talking about, but then it clicked moments later as she began reading again.

He stared at her with an odd expression upon his face, wondering if he should yell at her, fire at her or...do nothing? Orihime just sat there reading, taking no heed to his presence, not to mention he should have fired her for even _touching_ his things. However, the anger he should have felt didn't come as he expected, in fact, he really didn't care. It was an odd feeling.

Ichigo shook his head as he leaned back in the couch with his head resting slightly on the back head rest.

"One day...I will get mad at you," said Ichigo evenly, as if he were speaking to himself.

Orihime frowned at his words and watched as her weight shifted as he got up from the couch. _What did I do?_ she thought to herself, confused both by his actions and demeanor.

Her eyes followed his back until he was out the door. It was odd actually talking to the man that hired her. When she worked downstairs she heard rumours about how rude and horrible their employer was and he was feared throughout the bottom floor.

But from that moment on, she realised that he wasn't what he wanted everyone to think. He was kind and could even have a proper conversation without being insulted or fired. She always saw the good in people and no matter what everyone had told her about him, she no longer believed it.

* * *

**A/N: **_Well that's it, it has taken me so long to finish this chapter. Sorry about how long it is! Please read and review. Next chapter you will learn about what type of business Aizen runs and learn the heirarchy and probably who is loyal to Ichigo and who isn't (enemies), so stay tuned. :)_

_Bullet2tm_


End file.
